I would not expect someone to bring a pen. I mean, serious, do you want to hire a technician, or do you want to screw with them and fuck their minds? Give the guy a pen, dammit. If your company can't afford lending someone a pen then applicants are better off not working for your company.

The man came in with 1 copy of his resume, no writing utensil, no paper to write on, no work or hobby examples, and couldn't answer any ohms laws questions (FYI did you know 5V across a 1k Resistor has a current of 1.2?) His phone rang twice during the interview and still didn't mute it.

Maybe you are correct... Maybe I should cut the guy some slack and hire him.

My iPhone wouldn't ring because it has no service (use Skype instead). I could use it as a calculator, but don't need a calculator to tell you that 5V / 1k = 5mA. I can give you several URLs for hobby projects.

I don't carry a pen or wear a watch, but always have at least one flash drive in my pocket.

If there is any interesting electronic gadget on your desk, I may pick it up, examine it, and maybe try to disassemble it.

My iPhone wouldn't ring because it has no service (use Skype instead). I could use it as a calculator, but don't need a calculator to tell you that 5V / 1k = 5mA. I can give you several URLs for hobby projects.

I don't carry a pen or wear a watch, but always have at least one flash drive in my pocket.

If there is any interesting electronic gadget on your desk, I may pick it up, examine it, and maybe try to disassemble it.

Do I get the job?

You are my best candidate yet! .... And aren’t you in the west Michigan area?

I kind of have a 'mode' I get into for these things, so if I came into an interview I would probably be expecting "tell me about a time when you..." questions. If you threw a basic question like "what's Kirchoff's current law?" I'd probably be able to answer it, but if you threw maths at me I'd be a bit caught off guard and panic then spend the rest of the interview thinking "dammit, I am screwed". Also, working with decimal places in my head can be a bit of a pain sometimes, so I usually use a calculator even for basic questions like the one you asked.

I guess my point is that it's hard to get an accurate idea of what the person would actually be like on the job from 1 interview, especially if they have been through wankey HR and group interviews. You may catch people off guard and make them look stupid and feel self conscious about things they wouldn't normally have trouble with.

Thanks for this topic though, it is interesting to get the perspective of the guy across the table.

-Victorinox cybertool 42 - Lets me take apart anything even if they use torx screws.-Extend-able pen that also have LED light and laser pointer at the back.-Another combined LED+laser pointer on my keyring.-Green Tritium tag on the key ring.-CC sized solar calculator.-Compacted emergency rain coat.-Local city map.-Phone-(before I got a phone that had a camera) P&S camera-Some tissues-Wallet-Attached to the out side on a retractable hook, employee tag and RFID keycard.

interviewer bring anything that they expect interviewee to bring, if they dont bring, interviewer can lend it. but those interviewee who bring by themself will get extra marks. even if company give anything to workers but if they dont have a habit to bring it everytime when outstationed (leaved on desk), then its no good. one with much prepared in any condition is a better person. my 2cnts.

Logged

if something can select, how cant it be intelligent? if something is intelligent, how cant it exist?The Future is Now, Breaking the GHz Barrier... (Lecroy DDA5005 5GHz 20GS/s XXL)

not sure what the job is but as nevous as i get at these sorts of things (I hate tests, I never show my true self in them) I'd tell you straight off that 5V/1K is 1mA I mean cmon we all know that trick V=mA when dropped over a 1K resistor